Ceres
Ceres is a dwarf planet (or if you are trapped in the 20th century, the Largest Asteroid in the main asteroid belt and formerly the largest asteroid in the Solar system). It is also one of the most popular celestial objects for many science fiction authors to have decided will be a imporartant site to build a base or colony and sometimes the future capital of the Asteroid Belt. Novelized fiction * In Garrett P. Serviss' Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898), the Martians from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1897) are engaged in a war with giant beings from Ceres. * In George Griffith's A Honeymoon in Space (1901), Ceres is one of the many worlds visited by Lord Lenox Redgrave and his wife Zaidie aboard the Astronef. * Ceres is a prison planet in the A. Bertram Chandler's novelette "Raiders of the Solar Frontier" (1950) published in Donald A. Wollheim's pulp magazine Out of This World Adventures * In Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids (1953) Ceres is mentioned to have a Observatory on it an also in the Wendell Urth mystery "The Dying Night" (1956). * In Alfred Bester's book The Stars My Destination (1956), the main character claims to be a wealthy lord from Ceres. *In Larry Niven's Known Space stories (1964 onward), the asteroid belt has a government based on Ceres. It is also the site of the narrow but deciding victory against the Kzin Fourth Fleet during the First Man-Kzin War. * In Norman Spinrad's 1968 novel The Men in the Jungle, it is the capital of the Belt Free State, settled by Afrikaner refugees driven from their homes by an anti-racist popular rebellion. * In Jerry Pournelle's Exiles to Glory (1974, republished 2007) Ceres is the site of an interplanetary mystery involving the theft of asteroid-mined super-heavy metals. *In Bob Shaw's book The Ceres Solution (1981), extraterrestrials attempt to use Ceres to destroy Earth's moon thereby removing the effect of "third-order forces" that have been stunting human development since the dawn of civilization. *In L. Neil Smith's novel The Venus Belt (1981), Ceres contains a large underground city and several small settlements and stations, connected by a network of inverted highways. * In The Dune Encyclopedia (1984), Ceres becomes the "Seat of the Empire" (i.e., capital) after Earth is hit by an asteroid. *In Bruce Sterling's novel Schismatrix (1985), Ceres Datacom News is a quasi-national entity networking the communications of the cybernetically enhanced inhabitants of the asteroids. *In Marooned in Realtime (1986) by Vernor Vinge, one of the murder suspects is the holder of a PhD in Mayan archaeology from the Universidad Polytecnica de Ceres. *In The Doomsday Effect (1986) by Thomas Wren, Ceres is used to capture a small black hole which was slowly devouring the Earth. * In Joe Haldeman's novel Buying Time (1989; U.K. title The Long Habit of Living), Ceres is the home of a stateless society, which becomes important because of a secret research project to reinvent the Stileman rejuvenation process. * In S. M. Stirling's Draka novel The Stone Dogs (1990), the Alliance for Democracy has a large base on Ceres. * In The Killing Star (1995) by Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski, some of the few humans who survive the initial alien attempt to exterminate the species hide out inside of Ceres. * In Ben Bova's series Asteroid Wars (2001–2007), a small mining base is established on Ceres. * It is the focus of L. Neil Smith's novel Ceres (2009)[2] * In The Unincorporated War (2010) by Dani & Eytan Kollin, Ceres is the capital and command base of the newly formed Alliance headed by Justin Cord. * In Chris Roberson's 2011 novel Further: Beyond the Threshold, it is settled by Dutch refugees from The Netherlands that has been swallowed by rising ocean waters due to global warming. * In James S. Corey's 2011 novel Leviathan Awakes it is, "the port city of the Belt..." (p. 19) and it is the largest colony in the asteroid belt, housing six million people. * Mundus Cerialis (2012), by Andy Frankham-Allen & Sharon Bidwell, a novella in the second series of Space 1889 & Beyond, is set on and within Ceres, in an alternative history in which mankind are in space during the Victorian Era. Video Game fiction Star Control Ceres Base, alternatively known also as Ceres Station, represented the greatest accomplishment of Human race in colonizing space prior to the Ur-Quan Slave War. Built in 2112 on the asteroid Ceres, it was the largest and most remote installation at the time. The base was also the location where the Chenjesu appeared and initiated humanity's first extraterrestrial contact, in either 2112 or 2115.1 This led to Earth's participation in the Alliance of Free Stars and the ensuing war with the Ur-Quan Hierarchy. During the war, Ceres Base became Earth's primary outpost in the Asteroid Belt. Unfortunately the Alliance lost the war. Once the Ur-Quan defeated the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm forces in 2134, they proceeded to methodically conquer the remaining Alliance races, including the Humans. It was not until a few weeks later, when Ceres Base fell to the Hierarchy, that humanity realized the impossibility of winning the war. Three days after the fall of this outpost, the Ur-Quan definitively conquered Earth. Notes and references :1Both Commander Hayes and the 3DO manual give the year of first contact as 2112. The PC manual states that Ceres Base was built in 2112 and the Chenjesu made first contact three years later. Links * Asteroids * Planets in Science Fiction Category:Dwarf Planet Category:Planets Category:Locations Category:Real World Planets Category:Real World